OK, call it internal marketing

At the moment we are working hard to leverage the global network of which we are a part (Publicis).  This includes great agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi, Team Saatchi, Saatchi X (all different!?!), Leo Burnett, etc. etc. — as well as our “own” network, Publicis Consultants | Worldwide.

As we introduce our “people communication” offer — that is, speaking with potential, future, current and past employees — there’s a fair bit of education and awareness raising involved.  Getting clever and academic with ad agencies isn’t going to work. 

As always, it’s about the audience — and in this case, I am more than happy to call what I do “internal marketing” since it makes it easier for this audience to connect with the whole idea.

There’s an audience (even if “audience” is a fictitious construct).  We want to influence them in some way.  We use a range of different, and hopefully appropriate, means to do so.  Call it what you will.

Filed under: Employee engagement, brand engagement, digital engagement, employee communication, employer brand, internal communication, internal marketing

Effective audience-centric presentations

I work within a communications group with a French corporate headquarters and am always amazed at the number of bullets and words and data packed into every slide for most of their presentations.  It’s a cultural thing. Or is it? Truth be told, I once worked for the British MD of an investment bank (back office) who had the same approach.

When it’s important to make a point, you add a bullet, and when the slide is full you add another slide.

Then you read the slide to the audience.

In one case, I was asked to present results of an employee survey conducted by our colleagues in Paris; 150+ slides with the summary at the end.  Assuming the audience was conscious, even alive, by the time they got to the summary was a pretty long-odds bet.  (I of course deleted about 125 slides.)

To be fair, I’ve been just as … well, occasionally perhaps nearly as … guilty myself on occasion.  I finally had a chance to speak to one of my French colleagues about this.  Their response was that “Yes, but what if they see the presentation itself without the oral information?  They won’t know what you were saying! Idiot!”  (Last word was impled rather than stated).

My response was, shouldn’t you make the presentation as engaging and interesting as possible, and if you need to provide detail for those not in attendance that can be done in a handout or takeaway?

To quote an Elvis Costello song, “There are some things I shan’t report / The memory of their last retort / Things really haven’t changed that much / One of us is still getting paid too much.”   It was as if I was speaking a different language.  Which, in fact, I was and not just linguistically.

Filed under: Employee engagement, employee communication, employer brand, internal communication, internal marketing, organisational communication

SAS Event

My employer is running an event this Thursday morning (13 Nov) called “Brand impact from the inside out.”  Don’t blame me for the title borrowed from 2006.  It should be a good event – some case studies from BT, LECG, and work we did engaging 50,000+ people at AXA over 24 hours.

Find out more here.

Here’s the spiel:

Creating value by connecting employees to your brand using social media, face-to-face engagement and other methods.

Andaz Hotel, London, EC2M 7QN
08.30-10.50am, Thursday 13th November 2008

If ever there was an environment where we all needed to focus our brand investments exactly where it matters, it is now. The connection between employee engagement, delivering on brand promises and business performance is a well proven one. The question is, what is the best way to make that connection? This event explores exciting new and more pragmatic methods to help brand, marketing, HR and internal communications professionals to create communication and engagement programmes that connect with employees and create real brand and business impact, from inside to out.

Benefits of attendance:
· Insights into brand engagement best practice
· Understanding of how engagement can deliver brand impact and value
· Insight into the latest social media based engagement tools and methods
· Tips on how to overcome audience barriers to brand engagement
· Real life stories from practitioners
· Insights into the impact of face-to-face engagement methods, particularly amongst senior management
· Practical tips on maximising engagement effectiveness and efficiency
· Network with peers from brand, marketing, HR and internal communications.

To register yourself and/or a colleague, please download the agenda and follow the instructions or call Polly Clark on 020 7243 3232 or email events@sasdesign.co.uk .

Filed under: Employee engagement, brand engagement, digital engagement, employer brand, organisational communication